Arts council awards scholarships to young artists

The Surry Arts Council awarded more than $2,200 in scholarships to area students planning to further their education in the arts. An additional $1,625 for youth attending summer arts camps was awarded from the Kester Sink Birthday Endowment.

Emma Collins of Lowgap and Aspen Jackson of Elkin share the Sandy Beam Scholarship. Both vocalists, Emma will be pursuing her degree in Drama with a teacher’s licensure at University of North Carolina at Asheville after finishing at Surry Community College; Aspen is pursuing her Bachelor of Music and Dramatic Arts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The Mildred Wolfe Robertson Scholar is Matthew Belton of Pinnacle. Matthew, who played a marimba, is studying Music Performance at Virginia Tech. Hunter Hellard of Pilot Mountain is the Jimmy Lowry Scholar. Hunter played the saxophone and will be attending Western Carolina University and plans to study Music Education. The Surry Arts Council Visual Arts Scholar is Mallory Spagnoletti of State Road. Mallory will be attending Appalachian State University and plans to pursue a Bachelors of Fine Arts.

Megan Klein of Pilot Mountain is the Betty Lynn Scholar. Megan will be attending American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles in the fall to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance.

These endowments are set up and managed by the North Carolina Community Foundation and the Winston-Salem Foundation. The Jimmy Lowry Scholarship Fund is made up of proceeds from the annual Jimmy Lowry Concert, which will be held at the Blackmon Amphitheatre on Friday, July 7, at 7:30 pm.

For information regarding setting up an endowment or making contributions to existing endowments and scholarship funds, contact the Surry Arts Council at (336) 786-7998 or tanya@surryarts.org.